We’re now roughly two weeks away from Sixers media day, and Quentin Grimes is still floating around in restricted free agency. NBA insider Jake Fischer recently suggested during a Bleacher Report livestream that there’s a chance Grimes will take his one-year, $8.7 million qualifying offer—which he has until Oct. 1 to accept—since he doesn’t see the Sixers “balking at Grimes’ asking price.”
That wasn’t the only Sixers-related news that Fischer shared, though. He added that “there has been buzz all
summer long about the Sixers looking to potentially move one of, if not both, Andre Drummond and Kelly Oubre.”
Hilariously, the Brooklyn Nets might be a potential landing spot for Drummond (again!).
Meanwhile, Oubre does not seem thrilled about coming up in trade rumors.
Grimes might be the main reason why the Sixers are exploring those types of trades. They currently have $185.9 million in salary on their books, which leaves them only $10.05 million below the first apron and $21.9 million below the second apron. If they spent their $5.7 million taxpayer mid-level exception, which would hard-cap them at the second apron, they couldn’t give Grimes a starting salary higher than $16.2 million without dumping salary elsewhere first.
If the Sixers flip either Drummond or Oubre for a less expensive rotation player, that’d be one thing. Salary-dumping them onto the Nets or into another team’s mid-level exception would be another.
A few weeks ago, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse told talkSPORT that he wasn’t sure whether Joel Embiid would be ready for training camp. Meanwhile, Paul George is recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee that he underwent in mid-July after he suffered an injury during an offseason workout. At this point, there’s no guarantee that either one of them will be ready by opening night—no matter how many workout videos are dropped.
Drummond was underwhelming last season, although a toe injury didn’t help matters. When the Sixers signed him last summer, part of the theoretical appeal was that he could fill in as a spot starter whenever Embiid needed a night (or 60) off. That didn’t play out as expected last year, although Drummond just turned 32 in August. He’s still young enough to feasibly have a bounce-back year if he can stay healthy.
Unless the Sixers absolutely need the savings from salary-dumping Drummond to re-sign Grimes, I’d lean toward keeping him at the start of the season. (This stance has not made me popular in the Liberty Ballers Slack channel.) Adem Bona and rookie Johni Broome are the Sixers’ only two other traditional big men under contract. Until the Sixers are fairly confident that Embiid has two functioning knees, they’d be taking a massive risk by dumping Drummond and relying on two young, relatively unproven backup bigs behind their star center.
Trendon Watford, Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker can all soak up frontcourt minutes as well, but none of them are traditional centers. The Sixers could also look to backfill Drummond’s roster spot with another veteran center on a minimum contract—Precious Achiuwa, Thomas Bryant and Charles Bassey are among the best available options—but there’s no guarantee any of them would be an upgrade over him. Would the $2.7 million in savings that they generate by swapping him out for another min-deal center be worth the cost of salary-dumping him in the first place? If that’s what gets them over the line with Grimes, sure, but otherwise…
The Sixers presumably aren’t considering an outright salary-dump of Oubre, particularly in the wake of George’s injury. While they’re loaded in the backcourt, Oubre and Justin Edwards are the only other traditional wings on the roster. However, even trading Oubre for a cheaper player would come with a clear opportunity cost as well.
Outside of Embiid, George, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, Oubre and Drummond are the Sixers’ next two highest-paid players at $8.4 million and $5.0 million, respectively. Since the Sixers figure to go over the first apron if they re-sign Grimes, they won’t be allowed to take back more salary in a trade than they send out. So, unless they’re trading one of their Big 3 or Edgecombe, Oubre and Drummond are their two biggest trade chips from a salary perspective. (The Sixers can aggregate contracts as long as they don’t cross the second apron, which they likely won’t do this season under any circumstance.)
If salary-dumping Drummond or trading Oubre for a cheaper player is a precursor to signing Grimes to a long-term deal, the reward might outweigh the risk. But if the Sixers are just looking for ways to trim their luxury-tax bill—as is tradition in recent years—trading Drummond or Oubre could help capsize them before they even get off the ground this year.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Salary Swish and salary-cap information via RealGM.
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